“Sound the alarm, Randy!” cried Jack. “And you, Andy, run for a pail of water. Fred and I will get the fire extinguishers.”
The young cadets had had more than one fire drill and knew exactly how to go to work to get the best of the incipient conflagration. While Randy ran off toward Colonel Colby’s cottage to give the alarm, Andy grabbed up two fire buckets which were already filled and hurried with them toward the blaze. In the meanwhile Jack ran to the far end of the boathouse, where was located a fire extinguisher, while Fred sped off to the gymnasium to get another.
When Andy arrived with his water he found the blaze mounting up one side of the boathouse. He dashed the water as high as possible, realizing that the fire would spread rapidly if it reached the loft overhead, which was stored with all sorts of combustible material. Then the youth ran out to refill the buckets at the side of the dock.
By the time Jack managed to arrive with the fire extinguisher the blaze was covering one whole end of the boathouse. He got the extinguisher into action as speedily as possible, squirting the fire destroying compound where he thought it would do the most good. As Fred appeared with another extinguisher the bell outside began to ring and half a dozen men came running toward the boathouse, most of them in their bathrobes and slippers.
“How did this happen, Major Rover?” demanded Captain Dale in a somewhat harsh voice.
“I’ll tell you after the fire is out, Captain,” answered the young major of the school battalion. “We’ve got to work quickly here if we’re going to put this out.”
“Form a bucket brigade,” ordered Captain Dale, addressing the others who were arriving. And while this was being done he caught the fire extinguisher from Fred’s hands and began to spray the contents as high up as he could reach on the boathouse wall.
Inside of three minutes the whole school was aroused and the cadets came tumbling out on the campus in all sorts of dress and undress. As they came out they were stopped by Fred and Captain Glasby of Company A, who quickly formed them into a fire brigade and sent them for the fire buckets and fire ladders.
“Gee, that’s going to be some blaze!”
“I hope the boathouse doesn’t burn down and all our boats with it!”